Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis

The
extension of the black crown over the eye and the greenish color
of the bill identify this as a Western rather than a Clark's Grebe, and
the narrow and slightly upturned shape of the bill mean it is a
female.

The
Western Grebe, front, has the greenish bill and eye within the black
crown, the Clark's, rear, has an orange bill and the eye in
the white, also more white on the flanks. Western and Clark's Grebes
were recognized as separate species only in 1985. These birds clearly
show the main differences between the two species. In other cases,
birds have intermediate bill color and/or facial pattern; these
can be hybrids or less typical individuals of one of the two
similar species. Birds in non-breeding plumage make for more
identification difficulties.

Above,
a Western Grebe with the typical facial pattern, but with bill
color somewhat intermediate between greenish and orange. This bird's
bill is especially thick, making it easy to identify the bird as a
male; contrast the bird pictured at the top of the page, an equally
extreme example of female bill shape.

We had nesting Western Grebes on Coyote Lake in Spring 2013, a rare chance to see the spectacular courtship rituals of this species in the San Francisco BayArea. Above, the "weed-dancing" ritual, described in Birds of North America Online thus: "When both birds have weeds, they approach, feet churning, and rise into vertical posture with most or all of body out of water, necks stretched upward, bills raised 20° to 80° above horizontal."

Here two courting birds engage in the famous rushing ceremony, in which "two birds turn to one side, lunge forward body completely out of water, and run rapidly across the surface side by side."

Here,
a pair of Western Grebes copulates. Unfortunately, the attempts of
several pairs of Western (and at least one pair of Clark's) Grebes to
nest on Coyote Lake in Spring 2013 were unsuccessful, as the nests were
abandoned without any young birds hatching and surviving.